Amazon is developing drone flight simulators to help its pilotless quadcopters dodge real-world crashes
Aviation-style flight simulators are being developed by Amazon to programme its pilotless delivery drones better navigate drop-offs between homes but without the real-world dangers.
The internet retailer has blueprinted the simulators — based on similar principles as teaching humans airborne skills in a training environment — to avoid its autonomous quadcopters crashing into "external objects" or getting lost while potentially dispatching parcels around UK cities in the future.
With the “stereoscopic flight simulator”, the drones would be fixed to a table while test scenarios are played around them on video screens that mimic various distances and obstacles.
The patent says: “This can reduce the time and expense required to assess new equipment by eliminating test flights and the costs associated therewith (e.g. fuel, weather, in-flight damage, wear and tear).
“This can also enable specific scenarios to be tested repeatedly to isolate problems and eliminate test anomalies.”
Details about the simulator have been published by the European Patent Office.
Amazon says the invention is required for programming to “make the UAV ‘think’ it is actually flying” in order to undertake dummy drops and avoid "unintended consequences", such as losing the device.
The simulator is able to test flight speed, lift-off, pitches, rolls and landing, as well as change GPS co-ordinates, according to the patent.
The training rig would be used to train unmanned aerial vehicles to execute an “emergency evasive manoeuvre”, dodge trees and no-fly zones, test out its climbing and acceleration capabilities — usually cruising in a straight line at 10mph - and practice docking at recharging stations.
It follows reports that Amazon was putting more resources into its plans for delivery drone fleet rollout in Britain.
Last month, the Daily Telegraph found data from business social network LinkedIn which suggested the company had almost doubled its Cambridge-based Prime Air team to more than 60 staff, including “flight operators”.
The e-commerce giant recently received US aviation authority approval to move forward with the next phase of testing its Prime Air drone fleet.
Similar permission would be needed to operate in the UK, where such flights are illegal in built-up areas.
But the sector is continuing to grow, with firms including the Idu Group startup building "smart drop boxes" for deliveries to be lowered into a domestic roof hatch.
Amazon trialled UK drone deliveries to two local customers from its rural Cambridgeshire airfield in 2016 with Civil Aviation Authority approval, for orders weighing less than 2.6kg.
Flying outside of the human line of sight, the company said a device took 13 minutes from click to touchdown in their customer’s garden, carrying a Fire television stick and a bag of popcorn.
Graham Brown, chief executive of the Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems UK, said one of the biggest logistical challenges for future commercial drone deployment in cities was calculating how to deliver to high-rise buildings.
He said: “Electronic simulation helps speed-up, de-risk and reduce the cost of testing.”
Amazon declined to comment on the patent, or answer questions about the current phase of its drone delivery programme.
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